Excuses, Excuses

You know it's so easy to think up excuses not to write. The weather was too hot, too cold. My husband, friend, sister, brother looked at me wrong and I can't concentrate. I had to clean my house. I had to cook a large meal, company's coming. I had to blog, Twitter, answer emails. I stumped my toe. I had to wash the dogs, feed the cat. I'm sad.

You get the idea. Life can get in the way.

So you have to decide for yourself what is important in your life. Of course, your soul should be number one. Then family. And third should be writing. Yes, it could be your day job, but that one can always be worked around. Considering during normal times, I work a lot of overtime and still get my writing done. Until October, last year was a normal schedule and I finished three books. Two were small books for Harlequin (both rejected) and one was a single title for anyone (waiting for a publisher to decide). Not everyone has a supportive family when it comes to writing. My husband and mom aren't, but I don't worry about them. They just have to come to terms with my decision. It's not like I'm breaking the law or ruining my life. Deal with it.

So instead of excuses, look at what you can change (maybe the house doesn't need cleaning from top to bottom every week -- yep, I use to do that) and decide, do I want to be published? And how bad? Then no more excuses and get to work on your manuscript and finish the sucker. Then send out those query letters. It might take the first one or fifty or hundred. But you will never know until you finish it and start putting yourself out there.

No more excuses.